Free Republic

Sources: Swift Dropping Out Of Governor's Race Cites Family Reasons For Leaving GOP Field To Romney BOSTON -- Sources tell NewsCenter 5 that Acting Gov. Jane Swift has decided to drop out of the race for the GOP gubernatorial nomination this fall. Swift, a mother of three, including twin girls who were born last June, cited family reasons for her decision not to run. Aides said she is expected to make a formal announcement later Tuesday. Swift's decision comes on the heels of a news that Olympic chief Mitt Romney plans to formally announce his candidacy for the corner office....

<p>ARLINGTON, Mass. (AP) A woman shot a man in the neck after he allegedly invaded her home Monday afternoon, police said.</p> <p>There have been no arrests in the incident, which is still under investigation.</p> <p>Polcie said the suspect allegedly broke into the home at 2:50 p.m., when the woman's dog alerted her to the break-in.</p>

<p>DOES DOMESTIC gun ownership pose a more serious threat to Americans than foreign terrorism?</p> <p>That's what New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof seems to be saying in a recent article. Alarmed by reports of a surge in gun sales after Sept. 11, Kristof cites familiar statistics on the perils of guns. Japan, where handguns are practically unavailable, had only 29 gun deaths (both murders and suicides) in 1999, while the United States had 26,800 gun deaths in 2000. England, another country with a strict handgun ban, has higher rates of assault and burglary than the United States but a murder rate only one-sixth of ours.</p>

You're Mitt Romney, you're flying back to Logan tonight, after the parade in Southie, so you've already made the first good decision of the campaign. You're passing up all the hack St. Patrick's Day roasts that so appall everyone who isn't getting Monday off to nurse their hangovers. You're W. Mitt Romney and tomorrow in Belmont, they're going to give you a rally right out of ``Music Man,'' because there's trouble, trouble, right here in River City. You're Mitt Romney and it's now or never, and you don't have to worry about the Democrats mounting an pre-emptive attack campaign...

The ElectricStrawberry and I met, at Park Street, for our usual Saturday FReep of the unwashed communist traitors, it was a cold and blustery day. We were soon joined by Mr. and Mrs Bogunner and at high noon unfolded our flags and signs and prepared to face the foot soldiers of the revolution. As usual they were slow in coming down from the unspeakable excesses of the night before and were late in showing, what if you were going to have a revolution and you were late? When they finally showed is was pathetic, they couldn't even lie convincingly, a...

<p>FOXBORO, Mass. (AP) -- Adam Vinatieri, the New England kicker whose 48-yard field goal as time expired gave the franchise its first Super Bowl championship, signed a multiyear contract Friday.</p> <p>Vinatieri, 29, was instrumental in the Patriots' improbable playoff run, hitting a 45-yard game-tying field goal and a 23-yard game-winner in driving snow in the Patriots' 16-13 playoff win against the Oakland Raiders. He had five game-winning field goals last season.</p>

BOSTON- In an extraordinary editorial on the city's child-molestation scandal, the official newspaper of the Boston Archdiocese says the Roman Catholic Church must face the question of whether to drop its requirement that priests be celibate. The editorial, published Thursday in a special issue of The Pilot, asks whether there would be fewer scandals if celibacy were optional for priests and whether the priesthood attracts an unusually high number of homosexual men. It offers no answers, but says: "These scandals have raised serious questions in the minds of the laity that simply will not disappear." The editorial was written by...

<p>The MBTA Police Department's zero-tolerance approach to crime is a failed policy that has unfairly targeted black, Hispanic, and Asian youth and has bred widespread mistrust and hostility in minority communities, according to a report by a task force formed to study allegations of racial profiling.</p>

Massachusetts Attorney General Attempts to Block Further Investigation A bill that the Attorney General Tom Reilly is backing has recently gotten more attention than he had hoped. House Bill 2198, “An Act Relative To Attorney Client Privilege And Attorney Work Product Materials” has recently caught the attention of many activist groups across the Commonwealth and is now coming under fire. House Bill 2198 would amend the “public records” laws to exclude access to any records produced by an attorney. The bill’s language is so broad that it would prevent any citizen from obtaining materials/documents produced by the Attorney General’s legal staff....

As he awaits court action on a firearms charge, social service center administrator Adrian L. Ford said yesterday he will not dodge responsibility for leaving his loaded gun in his unlocked office. Two sixth-graders are accused of stealing the gun and taking it to B.F. Brown Middle School. “For 30 years I have been challenging people to take responsibility, personal responsibility,” Mr. Ford said. “I'd feel like a hypocrite if I didn't let people know how I really feel.” In an interview yesterday, Mr. Ford, chief administrator of Three Pyramids social service center, said the matter of the stolen gun...

<p>The ``tuck rule'' that helped New England defeat the Raiders in the playoffs probably will be retained by the NFL.</p> <p>Tampa Bay General Manager Rich McKay, chairman of the league's eight-member competition committee, said Wednesday that though the group has had extensive discussion on the rule, there is little agreement about changing it.</p>

<p>HIS MUCH IS clear about Senator John F. Kerry's dream of being the country's next commander in chief. To realize it, this JFK must first tame his own troops.</p> <p>As usual, discipline begins at home. Kerry's wife, Teresa Heinz, is a serious woman with a serious agenda. She spoke long and seriously at Kerry's big Monday fund-raiser - and that was before she got up a second time to introduce her husband. About two hours into the event, daughter Vanessa Kerry took her turn at the podium, telling the audience she was allotted two minutes to speak. But, she said, just like dad taught her, she was going to take more time. And then she did, continuing the friendly but self-indulgent hostage-taking at the Boston Sheraton.</p>

Taking its cue from Jefferson Middle School in Fort Wayne, Ind. legislators from the state of Massachusetts have taken on the issue of redesigning the state's commemorative quarter. The Jefferson Middle school's mascot is a minuteman bearing the same image as that on the state's quarter. In October of 2001 the image inside the main door of the school was repainted to exclude the firearm. Principal Michael Morris, who took over at the school in July, said: "The mural needed to be repainted anyway, and this sends a stronger, better message about patriotism. Everyone loves it." News-Sentinel columnist Kevin Leininger...

#13; AMERICAN MORNING WITH PAULA ZAHN#13; Female Students Expressing Desire to Defend Themselves#13; Aired March 12, 2002 - 07:40 ET #13;THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Since September 11th, there has been a surge in gun sales nationwide. At Mt. Holyoke College in Massachusetts, long considered abashed in liberalism, female students are expressing a desire to defend themselves. And although guns are not allowed on campus,...

Since Sept. 11, even U.S. college girls carry handguns Nicholas D. KristofSaturday, March 9, 2002 nbsp; SOUTH HADLEY, Massachusetts A generation ago, women here at Mount Holyoke College defied convention by burning bras and moving in with boyfriends. These days, some women here are shocking the campus by embracing something even more dangerous than men - guns. quot;One of my guy friends said, 'you're a chick with a gun - I'm scared,quot;' recalled Elizabeth Abbate, beaming. The women at Mount Holyoke, who have formed the first collegiate chapter of Second Amendment Sisters, a national women's pro-gun group, reflect the times....

<p>IN NOVEMBER Massachusetts voters could decide whether to eliminate bilingual education in the state. The ballot question is one that has already been accepted in California and Arizona. Should we follow their lead?</p> <p>Three facts about bilingual education deserve note. First, the education reform bill signed by President Bush in January commits federal support to bilingual education programs for up to three years for any student with limited proficiency in English. Second, Acting Governor Jane Swift has proposed increasing local school district control over bilingual education. Finally, and most important, parents of children with limited English proficiency already have the right to choose mainstream English education over bilingual or other specially designed programs.</p>

<p>In a blow to candidates seeking public campaign financing, a Supreme Judicial Court justice ruled yesterday that the court cannot order funding for the voter-approved Clean Elections Law without legislative action.</p> <p>The ruling, issued by Justice Martha B. Sosman, found that only the Legislature can appropriate funds from the state treasury under the Massachusetts Constitution. The SJC had previously raised the possibility of circumventing the House and Senate to fund candidates, but yesterday's ruling dashed that hope, at least for now.</p>

I had to laugh at the letter from Larry Calihan, #147;Restraining orders deny men rights#148; (Telegram amp; Gazette, March 1). Mr. Calihan is upset that a restraining order issued against a man by a vengeful wife temporarily brands the man a criminal without due process. I belong to a group that is systematically treated far worse. I am not permitted to move without first sending notification by registered mail to the police chief of my old town, to the police chief of my new town and to the state (something the state Supreme Judicial Court has ruled is unconstitutional even...

<p>TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Ruben Rivera was released from the New York Yankees after stealing a glove and bat from Derek Jeter's locker, a baseball source said Tuesday.</p> <p>General manager Brian Cashman, who had two meetings with Rivera the past three days, would not say why Rivera was given his unconditional release Monday night.</p>

MASS AND CONN FREEPERS: DAVID HOROWITZ APPEARING TOMORROW NIGHT IN AMHERST!! Speaking time is 7:30 in Amherst at the Johnson Chapel of Amherst College. Leftists will be in attendance!!!